Apparatus for charging furnaces



Sfipfi. 24, 1935. E, GERLACH ZMEAM APPARATUS FOR CHARGING FURNACES Filed July 29, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor $5M.

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3%. E, GERLACH Zfifififil I I APPARATUS FOR CHARGING FURNACES Filed July 29, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 liwentor E. GERLACH ZfiiiASi APPARATUS FOR CHARGING FURNACES Filed July 29, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I HA.

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Patented Sept. 24, 1935 UNITED STATES APPARATUS FOR CHARGING FURNACES Emil Gerlach, Dusseldorf, Germany,

Demag-Elektrostahl,

assignor to Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Dusseldorf, Germany Application July 29, 1933, Serial No. 682,762 In Germany August 6, 1932 I 4 Claims.

It has been pro-posed to charge furnaces-more particularly electric arc furnaceswith a solid charge by depositing the whole charge, or a part of it in the furnace from above while the cover 5 plate of the furnace is 01f. It has been proposed to provide charge containers in the form of a grab or a flap-bucket. Such apparatus has the disadvantage that the material has some distance to fall into the furnace and consequently,

1D quite apart from the possibility of the brickwork setting of the furnace being damaged, it does not fall into the furnace in the particular way that it was loaded into the container. In the case for example of an electric furnace for melting 15 steel scrap the precise way in which the scrap is arranged is very important. Generally the heavierscrap is placed at the bottom and the lighter scrap at the top; furthermore the very heavy pieces are placed to lie directly below the electrodes. When opening a bucket which discharges through the bottom, or when opening a grab the position of the charge will be completely altered by the jerk.

To avoid this charging buckets have been con- Y structed with a base part perforated in the form of a basket; the base part remains in the fur nace during charging and melts down with the charge. This base part, however light its construction, involves the outlay for material and 30 wages and therefore increases the expense.

The present invention avoids the disadvantages in the apparatus of the kind referred to.

According to the invention the charging vessel is provided with a base part which consists 35 of a number of thin strips of metal secured to the wall of the container. These strips of metal are held together, advantageously at the middle of the container, by means adapted to be released. The container is filled and passed into the furnace while the base-part is closed. Only after the vessel has been placed upon the bottom of the furnace is the connection of the strips of metal which form the bottom of the container broken. If the vessel be then raised out of the furnace, the flexible strips of metal are readily withdrawn from between the charge and the wall of thefurnace so that the charge remains in the furnace container in its original position. The metal strips forming the base part of the container may be secured together and released according to the invention in different ways. The most advantageous method is to connect the strips of metal together by a'readily combustible or quickly fusible material which is burned or fused after the container has been lowered into the furnace, by the heat of the furnace, whereby the union of the metal strips is automatically broken.

The metal strips may, however, be held together by a bolt which can be released from a position outside the furnace after the vessel has been 5 lowered into the furnace. If the strips of metal be connected together by wire or some similar material the wire would require to be cut or undone from a position outside the furnace, for example, through the furnace door by means of a device provided for the purpose.

Constructions of apparatus according to the invention are illustrated, by way of example, in

the accompanying drawings.

' Figure 1 shows the charging container 0. lowered into the furnace g, which in the drawing is shown with the cover plate removed.

Figure 2 is a plan of the base part of the container seen from below showing the strips of metal 01 and the closure member e.

Figure 3 shows a side elevation of a modification in which the base parts d of the container are held together by means of a bolt operable through the furnace door opening.

Figure 4 is an underside plan View of the container represented in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a further modification in which the base parts d of the container are operable by means of bolts from above the furnace.

Figure 6 is an underside plan view of the charglog container represented in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a detail end view of the container shown in Figures 5 and 6. r V

Figure 8 is a detail sectional view to an enlarged scale of the fastening wire and the disposition of the knife blade in relation thereto in a container of the construction represented in Figures 5 to 7.

Figure 9 is a detail plan view to an enlarged scale of the middle portion of Figure 2.

The charging container 11 (Figures 1 and 2) consists in the example illustrated of an upwardly tapering jacket of polygonal cross-section, triangular sections d of thin sheet metal being secured to the bottom edge of the jacket along the base line of the sections 01. The apices of these triangular sections d meet at the central vertical axis of the container and are held together by a suitably shaped member e made of a quickly fusible metal and threaded or engaged with the d as illustrated, for example, in Figure 9; the container is suspended from a crane hook c by chains b. The door opening of the furnace g is indicated by the reference letter f.

The charging container may be of angular or circular cross-section according to the shape of the furnace, and it is advantageously provided of slightly conical or tapering form towards the top in order to facilitate the lifting of the container out of the furnace.

Furthermore, the connection of the apices of the triangular sections may be formed by a hempen rope or by a wire or a member moulded of an easily fusible metal, so that the connecting means readily burn or melt when the bucket is placed in the furnace which is still hot from the previous charge. In the case more particularly of a rectangular container the parts (1 of the base are formed as rectangular sections of thin sheet metal which are secured to the oppositely disposed edges at the bottom of the container (1;. The connection of the said parts may, however, consist, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, of a bolt 71. or the equivalent which may be positioned in bearings in the opposed end walls of the container a and may engage the free ends of the sections (1, which, for the purpose, are provided along one half of such ends with tubular sockets or the like through which the bolt may be threaded, the tubular sockets of oppositely disposed sections (1 lying in juxta-position upon the bolt h. In such a construction the bolt h or the equivalent may be removed for the release of the sections (1 by means of a suitable releasing tool introduced through the door opening ,f of the furnace g. Again, as illustrated in Figures 5 to 8, the free ends of the rectangular segments (i may alternatively be provided with tubular sockets extending the full length of the edge and the sections may be held together by means of wire k. or the like which is threaded through the opposite end walls of the container a and through'the said sockets of the sections d. In such a case the sections a may be readily released from above the furnace by the operation of suitably disposed bolts 1, the lower ends of which are formed, as at 7', with knife edges which are positioned immediately above the exposed portions of the securing wire it or the like "so that by a downward movement of the said bolts the wire or the like may be severed.

Immediately the connection e is released as hereinbefore described the whole container can be raised out of the furnace, as the flexible strips of metal readily adapt themselves to the shape of the container and the charged scrap.

I claim:;

1. A container for introducing charges into furnaces, and more particularly electric arc furnaces, from above, the furnace cover plate being removed, comprising a hollow, open-ended body, and a closure member or base consisting of a plurality of flexible and deformable strips of metal connected to the lower edge of the body and of a length such that the free ends of oppositely disposed strips may meet, and means for releasably securing together the free ends of the said strips for the support by the strips of the charge in the container, the said means releasing the strips one from the other when the container is within the furnace and the said strips being withdrawn from beneath the charge without disturbance of the charge on the withdrawal from the furnace of the container.

2. A container for introducing charges into furnaces, and more particularly electric arc furnaces, from above, the furnace cover plate being removed, comprising an open-ended annular wall or jacket and a closure member or base consisting of a plurality of flexible and deformable strips of metal connected to the lower edge of the annular wall or jacket and of a length such that the free ends of oppositely disposed sections may meet, and a connecting element of material which is readily destroyed by heat for releasably securing together the free ends of the said sections so that after the container has been, lowered into the furnace the heat of thefurnace may effect the disconnection of the flexible strips of metal, which are then withdrawn from beneath the charge without disturbance of the charge on the withdrawal from the furnace of the container, the charge remaining in the furnace.

3. A container for introducing charges into furnaces, and more particularly electric arc furnaces, from above, the furnace cover plate being removed, comprising a hollow, open-ended body and a closure member or base consisting of a plurality of flexible and deformable strips of metal connected to the lower edge of the body and of a length such that the free ends of oppositely disposed strips may meet, and a bolt operable from a position outside the furnace, which bolt engages the free ends of the oppositely disposed strips which for the purpose are provided with sockets or bearings for the said bolt, the strips supporting the charge within the container until released by the bolt and being withdrawn from beneath the charge without disturbance of the charge on the withdrawal from the furnace of the container, the charge remaining in the furnace. I

4. A container for introducing charges into furnaces, and more particularly electric arc furnaces, from above, the furnace cover plate being removed, comprising a hollow open-ended body and a closure member or base consisting of a plurality of flexible and deformable strips of metal connected to the lower edge of the body 0 and of a length such that the free ends of oppositely disposed strips may meet, a flexible element threaded through the free ends of the strips for retaining the strips in position to support the charge in the container, and means for releasing the strips comprising a knife operable from a position outside the furnace to sever the flexible element, the strips being then withdrawn from beneath the charge without disturbance of the charge on the withdrawal from the furnace of the container, the charge remaining in the furnace.

EMIL GERLACI-I. 

